Wireless communications devices such as the BlackBerry® by Research in Motion Limited provide a variety of useful functions, such as voice communication, e-mail and Web browsing. Of growing popularity are mapping applications that take advantage of the device's wireless link and Web capabilities to download and render maps on the device. When coupled with a GPS receiver, either embedded as a GPS chipset or externally (e.g. Bluetooth™ connected), these mapping applications can be used for (or modified for use with) navigation and other location-based services (LBS).
Navigation technology, be it on dedicated GPS navigation units or on multi-function wireless handheld devices, has evolved rapidly in recent years from providing a graphical representation of a route superimposed on a map and/or a list of driving directions to full-blown turn-by-turn navigation where real-time instructions are presented to the user visually and/or audibly (using text-to-speech technology). In addition to current position and route information, current mapping and navigation software often provide searchable databases of points of interest (POI) such as landmarks, hotels, restaurants, cafes, gas stations, etc., which the user can optionally have displayed on the map.
These POI can be either stored in onboard memory or retrieved wirelessly on-demand from a map server. Although street names and points of interest help a user navigate, it would be highly desirable to provide more detail about the device's current position to further facilitate navigation.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.